Giwi Margwelaschwili
Encyclopedia
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
) is a German-language Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
writer and philosopher.
He is the son of the notable Georgian intellectual Tite Margwelaschwili
Tite Margwelaschwili
Tite Margwelaschwili was a Georgian philosopher and writer. He studied at the University of Leipzig and did a doctor's degree in history at the University Halle-Wittenberg in 1914...
, who moved to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
after the Red Army invasion of Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
in 1921 and was chairman of the Georgian political emigre organization in Berlin. Due to allied bombing he attended three different gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
schools in Berlin and participated in the anti-Fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
youth movement Swing Kids
Swing Kids
The Swing Kids were a group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany in the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg and Berlin. They were composed of 14- to 18-year-old boys and girls in high school, most of them middle- or upper-class students, but some apprentice workers as well...
.
After the war the family lived in Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Wilmersdorf
Wilmersdorf is an inner city locality of Berlin, formerly a borough by itself but since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform a part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.-History:...
in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sector of Berlin. In December 1945 Giwi and his father were abducted by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
secret police NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and confined in the cellar of a Soviet commandantura in Berlin-Weissensee for six weeks. Subsequently he was detained in a Soviet Special Camp at Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
. While his father was deported to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
and shot as a traitor after eight months of interrogation and torture, Giwi was released after 18 months in the camp. He was not allowed to return to West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
and moved to his relatives in Tbilisi.
Margwelaschwili learned Georgian and Russian, and graduated from high school. He studied English at the Tbilisi State University
Tbilisi State University
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University , better known as Tbilisi State University , is a university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region...
and was an aspirant for foreign languages. 1957-1970 he taught English and German at the Tbilisi Institute of Foreign Languages
Ilia Chavchavadze State University
Ilia State University is an educational institute located in Tbilisi, Georgia. University was established in 2006 on the basis of Ilia Chavchavadze State University for Language and Culture and Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani State Pedagogical University...
. In the 1950s, he composed his first novels and philosophic writings on phenomenology.
In 1969, he was allowed to travel to East Germany as a translator for the Rustaveli Theatre
Rustaveli Theatre
Rustaveli National Theatre also referred to as Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, is found in Tbilisi, Georgia. The theatre is conveniently located at 17 Rustaveli Avenue, one of the main streets in Tbilisi...
for the first time since 22 years. In 1970 his first scientific work about "The role of the language in Heidegger's philosophy" was published. In 1971 he was appointed to the Institute of Philosophy at the Georgian Academy of Sciences
Georgian Academy of Sciences
The Georgian National Academy of Sciences is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences until November 1990...
and visited dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Wolf Biermann
Wolf Biermann
Karl Wolf Biermann is a German singer-songwriter and former East German dissident.-Early life:Biermann's father, who worked on the Hamburg docks, was a German Jew and a member of the German Resistance....
in Berlin. Due to that contact he was prohibited to leave the Soviet Union until 1987. In 1972 Giwi met Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
, a Nobel laureate in literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
from Germany, who was impressed by his unpublished autobiography Kapitän Wakusch. Böll tried to help him get a passport but was not successful.
In 1990 he settled in Berlin with the help of civil rights activist Ekkehard Maaß and was naturalized as a German citizen in 1994. In 1991 his first autobiographic work, Muzal. Ein georgischer Roman, was published in Germany. Several books followed, including novels, philosophic commentaries on Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
authors, and poems, which quickly won a nation-wide and international acclaim. Nevertheless, most of his work remained unpublished.
In 1995 he was awarded the Literature Prize of Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
federal state. He became a member of the International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
and received a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
of the President of Germany
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
. The University of Bamberg appointed him professor for poetry. Berlin's Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste
The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...
decorated him with the Kunstpreis Berlin for his life's work. In 2006, the Goethe Institute awarded the prestigious Goethe Medal
Goethe Medal
The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe Institute honoring non-Germans for meritorious contributions in the spirit of the Institute. It is an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany....
to him. He has an honorary doctorate from Tbilisi State University.
He is married to the author and German philologist
German studies
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents, and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the...
Naira Gelashvili
Naira Gelashvili
Naira Gelashvili is a Georgian fiction writer, philologist, Germanist, and civil society activist.Gelashvili graduated from the Faculty of Western European Literature, Tbilisi State University, in 1970. She has published a series of stories and the novel dedis otakhi...
. His daughter Anna is also a German philologist.
Works
- Margvelašvili, G. T.: Sjužetnoe vremja i vremja ekzistencii. Mecniereba, Tbilisi 1976
- Margvelašvili, G. T.: Aksiologiceskoe znacenie razlicija mezdu ekzistencialnym i kategorialnym v chaideggerovskom ontologiceskom ucenii. Mecniereba, Tbilisi 1979
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Kapitän Wakusch: autobiographischer Roman. vol. 1 In Deuxiland. Südverlag, Konstanz 1991, ISBN 3-87800-012-X
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Kapitän Wakusch: autobiographischer Roman. vol. 2 Sachsenhäuschen. Südverlag, Konstanz 1992, ISBN 3-87800-013-8
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Kapitani Vakusi. Kavkasiuri Saxli, T'bilisi N.N., ISBN 99928-71-67-9
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Die grosse Korrektur, vol. 1 Das böse Kapitel: Roman. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-352-00418-8
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Muzal: ein georgischer Roman. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt a.M./Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-458-16192-9
- Magwelaschwili, Giwi: Zuschauerräume: ein historisches Märchen. Autoren-Kollegium, Berlin 1991
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Der ungeworfene Handschuh: ontotextologische Versuche zur Abwehr von Schicksalsschlägen in Buch- und Gedichtweltbezirken. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-352-00437-4
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Leben im Ontotext: Poesie - Poetik - Philosophie. Federchen-Verlag, Neubrandenburg N.N. [1993], ISBN 3-910170-10-2
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Gedichtwelten - Realwelten. Arbeitsbereich Neuere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Bamberg 1994
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Ein Stadtschreiber hinter Schloß und Riegel. Kurt-Tucholsky-Gedenkstätte, Rheinsberg N.N. [1995]
- Margwelaschwili, Giwi: Fenomenologiceskie kody soznanija. Centre for Cultural Relations of Georgia Caucasian House, Tbilisi 1998
- Margvelašvili, Givi: Ja - knižnyj personaž/Ich bin eine Buchperson. Centr Kulturnych Vzaimosvjazej Kavkazkij Dom, Tbilisi 1998
- Margvelasvili, Givi: Problema kulturnogo mira v ekzistencialnoj ontologii M. Chajdeggera. Centre for Cultural Relations of Georgia Caucasian House, Tbilisi 1998
- Margvelasvili, Givi: Mucali'. Diogene, Tbilisi 2001, ISBN 99928-59-93-8